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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Central Ohio's Tala Ashe nominated for Tony Award for her role in 'English'
Moving all the way from Tehran, Iran, to Powell, Ohio, is not an easy thing to do. But all 6,474 miles were worth it for one family of three, so long as the daughter got to follow her dreams. And it was in Ohio that she was able to pursue her passion for acting, falling in love with playwrights like Lorraine Hansberry and Arthur Miller, eventually landing roles both on Broadway and television. And now, she's nominated for Tony Award. Actress Tala Ashe, known for her roles in Broadway theater and on television shows like "Smash," "As the World Turns" and DC's "Legends of Tomorrow," was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play. Sanaz Toossi's "English" premiered in 2022. The play is set in Karaj, Iran, and follows four adult classmates as they attempt to learn the English language. Cultural assimilation, language and identity are central themes in the play. "English" was also nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play, making Toossi the first Iranian-American to receive the nomination. For Ashe, playing Elham — an unapologetically bold character working on her fifth attempt to learn English — was especially meaningful to her own experiences as an Iranian-American and her efforts to land roles that represent diverse voices. "I'm pulling from my mother and my grandmothers and my ancestors to play her," Ashe said. "It's always a fight for accurate and nuanced representation, so in some ways, getting to 'English' also feels like a full journey of unlocking that door." Being nominated for a Tony Award, after over a decade of playing roles in the entertainment industry, means everything to not just Ashe, but her parents, Shoreh Elhami and Javad Ashrafi, as well. "This nomination also just represents the culmination of a lot of heartbreak, a lot of hard work, and all my work, in some way, is as much for them as it is for me," Ashe said. With the support of her parents, Ashe was able to pursue acting, landing key roles on television shows like "Covert Affairs," "Law & Order," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" and "30 Rock." However, she said theater is her first love. "I realized that a lot of what I'm seeking is about community, about building art together with people. And often, on television, you don't have the time and circumstances to do that," Ashe said. Ashe spent five years as Zari on DC's "Legends of Tomorrow" — the show's first Muslim-American superhero — where she did build that sense of community she had been seeking, but making her way back to theater for "English" had been a full-circle moment to not just act, but thoughtfully represent diversity. "Seeing stories about people that are different than us, especially excellently told stories, expands our minds, our empathy," Ashe said. "I love being an artist. I love being an actor, and I've realized that it's also important for me to recognize what I represent." Ashe and her co-star, Marjan Neshat, are the first Middle Eastern actresses nominated for a Tony Award for the Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play. The 78th annual Tony Awards will take place June 8 at 8 p.m. at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Trending features reporter Amani Bayo can be reached at abayo@ This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Tala Ashe nominated for Tony Award for role in 'English' play
Buzz Feed
11-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
19 TV Characters Who Absolutely Do Not Deserve The Hate They Get
1. April Nardini from Gilmore Girls "She did literally nothing wrong except be born, try to win first prize at the science fair, and eat some pasta after!! All she wanted was a strand of Luke's hair, and to skedaddle on out of there. Luke was the one that then sought her out and asked to be a part of her life. He was also the one that hid her existence from Lorelai, and the one that decided Lorelai wasn't allowed to have any interactions with her…that is, until he needed her to come save April's birthday party…and then tried to gaslight her into thinking she was in the wrong/to blame, when Anna found out and got mad." — kbozymow7 2. Ben Chang from Community Yahoo / ©Yahoo/Courtesy Everett Collection "He just wanted friends that would accept his batshit crazy self and when the Greendale Seven, all of whom are batshit crazy in their own ways, denied him... His worst tendencies were brought up to the surface and amped to over 9000 in retribution. He gets a bad rap." — jayjjimenez 3. Jules Vaughn from Euphoria Courtesy HBO "Yeah she may have screwed up and she may have cheated on Rue and had a bad storyline in Season 2, but at least she wasn't some sadistic psychopath who tormented her friends and family due to a fragile ego like Cassie did. The worst part is they paint Cassie as some innocent tragic heroine who never did anything wrong and call out Jules for the same mistakes." — tanyam44ab2253d 4. Karen Filippelli from The Office "At the end of the day, we all hated her because she wasn't Pam, but if you take that piece out of it, she was a great character. I'm on my millionth rewatch and am really appreciating her character. She was a hardworking woman who went after what she wanted while trying to deal with the fact that her boyfriend was in love with someone else. LOVE that they gave her a happy ending with her Regional Manager job, husband, and baby. She deserved it." — tudorgirl21 5. Roland Schitt from Schitt's Creek Pop / Everett "Everybody I know who watches Schitt's Creek hates Roland, which is absurd. Chris Elliot is objectively hilarious as Roland Schitt." — doofenshmirtzevilinc "I like Roland! At least he is who he is and unapologetically so!" — analeehope 6. Mona Wu from Legends of Tomorrow The CW "She was too young to really fit in with this group of 30-somethings, so she ended up coming across as childish and annoying sometimes. I've said a few times that if she was introduced when Astra, Spooner, and Behrad came along, the younger generation, she'd have been great. I don't dislike her; I just don't think they knew what to do with her. She wasn't bad; she was a victim of shitty writing." — garebehr 7. Imogen Heaney from Heartstopper Netflix / Everett "She had a crush on a guy who wasn't into her, and people took that as her trying to ruin Nick and Charlie's relationship even though she didn't even know about it. Her character development in Season 2 made her even better, in my opinion." — jorjasee13 8. Lori Grimes from The Walking Dead AMC "I didn't hate Lori because of the Rick/Shane thing, she was just irritating. I will say, though, I don't understand why they acted like she was a bad mother. Anytime something happened to Carl, it was Rick's fault, yet she apologizes several times in Season 3 for 'not being the best mom.' I thought she was a pretty good mom, especially in those circumstances!" — thegreatcatsby33 9. Luther Hargreeves from The Umbrella Academy Netflix "The series is still ongoing, I know. But people were so bizarrely hateful of him after the first season when he was literally just did what he thought was right and what the plot was setting him up to do the whole time. Also he's a total dorky sweetheart, how anyone thought he was a callous asshole is beyond me." — deebee2118 10. Theon Greyjoy from Game of Thrones Courtesy HBO "Theon Greyjoy has always been my favorite character. I never understood why everyone disliked him. I was so proud of him with his character arc, but omg that poor man did NOT deserve the torture Ramsey did to him. Those scenes were really hard to watch, and I'll be honest I skipped through most of them because they made me so anxious." — global_havoc18 "I think the reason people get angrier at Theon Greyjoy is because we trusted him first. When a character you know is a terrible or morally questionable person does terrible things, you expect it. But a character who is the closest and most trusted friend of a protagonist betraying him? It hurts more, and thus is harder to forgive." — Spn42 11. Vanessa Abrams from Gossip Girl "As someone who consumed the books before the show came out, Vanessa was a main character. But they made her into a recurring one for the show and never really gave her any storylines of her own. She sort of just felt forced into other people's storylines, which made her less of her own character. And then they wrote her out. There's also something to be said about the inherent anti-Blackness of the choice to make her biracial (Black/white) and just do NOTHING with it. The Gossip Girl writers had no idea what to do with any character who wasn't white, cisgender, and heterosexual. And while I love the show for what it was, the mistreatment of Vanessa Abrams will always be a stain upon the show for me." — kyronp 12. Skyler White from Breaking Bad "Skyler White is one of those characters who annoyed the hell out of you at the time the show was running... but, as you began to absorb the full context and scope of everything that took place in that series, one is able to empathize with her much more." — joeschoe33 13. Mark Brendanawicz from Parks and Recreation Nbc / ©NBC/Courtesy Everett Collection "He's not a favorite as such but Mark gets scapegoated for Season 1's first step wobbles. Mark wasn't a bad character but he just wasn't a good fit for the identity the show fell into and was the butt of the jokes for this. For a show that had the triplet continuity nod with Leslie, forgetting a main character existed is a deliberate omission at points he should have referenced like with Ann's boyfriend boxes." — jbmasta 14. Elena Gilbert from The Vampire Diaries "I hate post-Season 4 criticism about her being selfish and annoying. While she's not the funniest or most badass character on the show, she is shown from the beginning that she's a teenage girl who is incredibly kind, empathetic, resourceful, selfless, and brave despite the trauma she's endured. She sympathizes with others, even as they are victimizing her, she's willing to sacrifice herself for others, and shows a lot of intelligence and quick thinking in stressful situations. I am disappointed with her character development after Season 3, but the core of who she is — the person who was was established since the beginning of the show — is worth admiring, in my opinion." — thinkaboutitbbbb 15. Jeremiah Fisher from The Summer I Turned Pretty John Merrick / Amazon / Courtesy Everett Collection "Jere isn't perfect, but people really act like he is the devil (and I don't wanna hear anything about the books, because right now, we're talking about the show). I don't hate Conrad, either, but I just can't stand the double standard. When Jeremiah does something, people will make it SUCH a big deal, but when Conrad does the EXACT same thing, people will say, 'Oh, he's going through a hard time with his mom and everything.' is his brother so they are going through the SAME THING! 😩" — lilqueenb19 16. Emily Waltham from Friends "Emily was actually super nice, caring, and easy-going in all the episodes she was in before the 'Wrong Name' episode. Then, they tried to make her 'bitchy,' when in reality, she was not being unreasonable at all. She still agreed to face the shame of her family and friends and move to New York with Ross. She only wanted him to stop being friends with the woman whose NAME HE SAID AT THEIR WEDDING. We all would have done the same. But suddenly, all of Ross's friends turned on Emily when they liked her a lot before. They made her out to be an evil shrew and it was so untrue." — mercuryrising 17. Zari from Legends of Tomorrow The CW / Courtesy Everett Collection "There is so much hate for 2.0, because she's not the same person as 1.0, and she's 'not like the other girls' People hate her because she's an influencer and ignore the rest of her story. She's a smart woman [and] uses those skills to help the Legends all the time. She's sweet, she's funny, she's a good friend, [and she's] a great big sister. Yes, she had a learning curve, but that's called character growth." — constanvee 18. Peyton Sawyer from One Tree Hill Cw Network / ©CW Network/Courtesy Everett Collection "I think she is amazing. I loved having a female character like her represented. People always pit her against Brooke and Haley but to me all three girls were amazing and Peyton deserves more love." — teiganb 19. Jennifer Walters aka She-Hulk from She-Hulk: Attorney at Law Marvel / Everett "People wouldn't bat an eyelash if the gender roles were reversed and she was never even meant to be a serious character. Her show was made to be a comedy, and Jennifer Walters fits perfectly in it. I truly believe she's likable, a good superhero, and will interact well with other Avengers if Marvel chooses to do that."
